Easter at Auchan?

This business with plastic bottles cannot continue as it is. Here in Portugal, we have problems to solve that people on other planets solved long ago. And why? Because we’re slow – too slow to grasp things that others have long since understood and, consequently, solved long before us. Please don’t get me wrong…

Just imagine you are a foreign investigative journalist. You go into a supermarket and want to buy a bottle of water. You start your research at Auchan in Portimão, or at Modelo in Lagos, or anywhere else in Portugal. So, you want to buy a glass bottle of water, but you can’t find one at Auchan. The member of staff that you approach between the shelves, asking for help, kindly shows you the way to the supermarket reception. They’re sure to be able to help you there.

So, you join a queue of people waiting, all of whom have a question of their own, and think about how you might explain your problem. Eventually, it’s your turn and, when you’re addressed, you ask for a one-litre bottle of Carvalhelhos water that is later returnable. “We don’t stock that brand of water,” you’re told. “Perhaps I’m mistaken,” says the elderly lady with glasses, handing you an A5 sheet of paper and a pen, on which you are asked to describe your problem in detail. Returnable bottles, recyclable water bottles that shouldn’t end up in the rubbish at Porto de Lagos (the landfill site)… That is why you want to buy returnable glass bottles.

And now a recent study by the University of Aveiro comes into play, published this week under the reference number CI.48-SCIRP/2026, which concludes: “Although most Portuguese people acknowledge the reality of climate change and its effects on human activity, the level of climate anxiety among adults continues to be relatively low in Portugal. This is one of the key conclusions of a study carried out at the University of Aveiro (UA), which sought to investigate the extent to which the realisation that climate change is a reality influences the mental health of the Portuguese and whether it leads to the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviours…”

Imagine you are a foreign investigative journalist and simply want to go shopping in an environmentally friendly way in Portugal. To begin with, you are scrutinised from head to toe, as if you had just successfully landed your UFO on the roof of the Portimão shopping centre. So, you summarise your request in writing in three sentences comprising 27 words, and the lady promises you that you will receive a reply within 24 hours. You are asked to please include your telephone number and email address so that they can contact you.

You feel you are in good hands with this lady. She will put your request to the management and then, within a day, you will be notified as to when you can finally buy water in returnable bottles at Auchan in Portimão in a climate-friendly way, or at Modelo, or anywhere else in Portugal.

The climate crisis is one of the most complex and urgent global challenges of our time, with already recognised impacts on the environment and your physical and mental health. Increasingly, climate anxiety is being identified as one of the psychological consequences of climate change.

“Climate anxiety is a chronic worry about the effects of climate change, about the future of the planet, about oneself and about future generations,” explains the study’s author, researcher Mariana Pinho from the Centre for Environmental and Marine Research and the Department of Biology at UA. In the study, which involved 3,300 participants, climate anxiety was measured using a validated scale that assesses the frequency of symptoms such as cognitive disturbances (for example, a lack of concentration or sleep problems) and functional limitations related to climate concerns.

According to the researcher, “the prevalence of this type of anxiety among adults in Portugal is relatively low overall, although other studies suggest that there are differences between age groups, gender and other factors.” Mariana Pinho does, however, stress that these results should be interpreted with some caution: “This does not mean that the Portuguese do not believe in climate change or are not concerned about it, but rather that, in general, it has no impact on their cognitive functions — such as sleep disturbances or difficulties concentrating — nor does it significantly impair their daily life…”

The clock is ticking, time is passing, the 24 hours are up, and the elderly lady with the glasses and the perm at Auchan hasn’t called back. “Has she perhaps forgotten me?” you begin to wonder. Instead, you receive a rather odd text message trying to tempt you with a special offer on codfish. After all, Easter is coming up again soon. You’ve never received a text like this before. You look at the sender, but can’t identify them. But the codfish is available at Auchan – not in returnable bottles of Carvalhelhos water, mind you, but at least at a special price in a plastic bag…

Now you wonder whether you might have given the wrong phone number to the elderly lady with glasses and a perm at the Auchan reception in the shopping centre in Portimão. That’s where the story ends.